A single bullet killed Charlie Kirk – what we know about Utah shooting
5 minutes agoTiffanie Turnbull
Charlie Kirk, an influential conservative activist and a close ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot dead while speaking at an event at a university in Utah.
There is still a lot that is unclear about the incident but here is what we do know.
What happened?
Kirk, 31, who had been invited to speak at Utah Valley University (UVU), was seated under a white gazebo addressing a crowd of about 3,000 people in the quad, an outdoor bowl courtyard.
According to eyewitnesses and videos taken at the scene, Kirk had been responding to a question about gun violence.
“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an audience member asked.
“Too many,” replied Kirk.
The questioner then said there had been five in 10 years and asked Kirk how many mass shooters there had been in that time.
“Counting or not counting gang violence?” was Kirk’s reply.
Then a single shot rang out – it was about 12:20 local time.
Afterwards, Kirk can be seen recoiling in his chair, with blood visible on his neck, before the terrified crowd starts running.
Law enforcement officials say the killer is believed to have fired the fatal shot from the roof of a building located near the courtyard where Kirk was speaking.
They are going through CCTV footage, and believe the suspect was “dressed in dark clothing”.
BBC Verify has been examining videos posted on social media, which people claim show a figure on the roof of a university building immediately after the attack.
This footage was posted on X after the shooting, but we cannot verify when it was filmed.
The poor quality of the video makes it hard to determine what the dark shape pictured in it might be. Based on the building’s characteristics, the BBC was able to identify it as UVU’s Losee Center – a campus spokesperson has said the shot came from there.
The figure on the roof was approximately 130m (142 yards) away from where Kirk was sitting.
And footage taken from an office behind the gazebo that Kirk was in appears to show someone running across the roof of the Losee Center after the shooting.
Kirk was rushed to hospital in a private vehicle.
@_opencv_But hours later, Trump confirmed his death on a post on Truth Social.
Afterwards people in the crowd described what they had seen.
“I heard a loud shot, a loud bang and then I saw his body actually – in slow motion – kind of fall over,” one eyewitness said.
“We all dropped to the ground, and I want to say we sat like that for about 30 to 45 seconds, and then everyone around us got up and started running,” said Emma Pitts, a reporter from Deseret News.
A manhunt for the suspect
Authorities say this was an assassination – but we don’t know yet who shot Kirk, or why.
Two people were arrested in the hours after the incident and later released. They have “no current ties” to the shooting, Utah officials have said.
“This shooting is still an active investigation,” the Department of Public Safety, which covers law enforcement in the state, said in its latest update.
A massive manhunt is under way for the shooter. The campus has been locked down and heavily armed police are going door-to-door as part of the search, the BBC’s Regan Morris reports from the campus.
Who was Charlie Kirk?
Kirk was one of the most high-profile conservative activists and media personalities in the US, and a trusted ally of President Trump. He was a guest at Trump’s presidential inauguration and a regular visitor to the White House.
As an 18-year-old in 2012, he co-founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a student organisation that aims to spread conservative ideals at liberal-leaning US colleges.
He became known for holding open-air debates on campuses across the country, fielding rapid-fire questions in a signature “change-my-mind”-style – just like he was doing on Wednesday when he was shot.
His social media feed and daily podcast offer a snapshot of what he often debated – the issues ranged from gun rights and climate change, to faith and family values.
Kirk had many critics who saw him as a divisive figure that promoted controversial and, at times, conspiratorial beliefs such as the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
But he also had his fans, for whom he was a champion of free speech. They credit him with playing a key role in convincing younger voters to turn out for Trump in last year’s election. He was valued within the Trump administration for his keen understanding of the grassroots Maga (Make America Great Again) movement.
What has the reaction been?
There has been shock, grief and anger across the political spectrum.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No-one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.
“He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me,” the president added, ordering that all flags be flown at half-mast across the country.
Getty ImagesFormer US presidents have offered their condolences. Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, said there is “no place in our country for this kind of violence”, while Barack Obama called the shooting a “despicable act”, and said his family was praying for Kirk’s loved ones.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer offered his sympathy and Italy’s Prime Minister Girogia Meloni said the “atrocious murder” was “a deep wound for democracy”.
Argentinian President Javier Milei paid tribute to Kirk as “a formidable disseminator of the ideas of freedom and staunch defender of the West”.
But any sense of unity is quickly being overshadowed by deep political divisions.
Conservative commentators have surfaced tasteless comments by left-wing activists appearing to celebrate or condone Kirk’s death.
At the same time, some of Trump’s key allies – including influencer Laura Loomer and Elon Musk – pinned blame on the left or the Democratic Party, and called for mass arrests and broad police crackdowns.
In his address, Trump said “radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people”, and did not mention recent attacks motivated by far-right ideas.
The dispute spilled out in Congress, where shouting broke out after a moment of silence for Kirk.
Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican and Trump ally, accused Democratic colleagues of spreading hateful rhetoric before House Speaker Mike Johnson, also a Republican, angrily called for order.
Is political violence in the US increasing?
In the first six months of this year, the US has experienced about 150 politically-motivated attacks.
That is nearly twice as many as over the same period last year, an expert told Reuters news agency.
Mike Jensen – from the University of Maryland, which for more than 50 years has tracked political violence in a database – said the US is in a “a very, very dangerous spot right now”.
“This could absolutely serve as a kind of flashpoint that inspires more of it.”
Kirk’s murder is the latest in a string of high-profile
The president was injured in the ear after he was shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July and authorities say they thwarted a second attempt on his life at his West Palm Beach golf course two months later.
Getty ImagesIn June, Minnesota’s top Democratic legislator and her husband were murdered in their home.
In April, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro’s house was burned in an arson attack, while the Democrat and his family slept inside.
Other incidents this year include politically motivated fire attacks on Tesla dealerships and the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington.
In 2022, the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was bludgeoned with a hammer after a man broke into the couple’s home looking for the top-ranking Democrat with the intention of taking her hostage.
“The horrific shooting today at Utah Valley University is reprehensible,” Pelosi said in a post on X on Wednesday.
Former US representative Gabby Giffords – who survived being shot in the head during a meeting with constituents in 2011 – also condemned the attack.
“Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence.”